MLK Holiday observance is a good move for everyone

By Jéan L. Ward, Pastor, Power of Faith Church

Published April 5, 2012

It is a great thing that the SBC Executive Committee has decided to add the MLK Holiday to the staff calendar, and observe it as an actual holiday by the closing of the Executive Committee building. This should not be the end, but only the beginning of a new era.

The closing of the Executive Committee building should extend throughout the entire denomination to no longer allow it be treated as a personal day, but instead allow this to be one day of corporate observance of the holiday.

The impact on the members we serve, the people we reach, and the message of which we teach will be considerable.

We must understand that Dr. King was not just a person who fought for the rights of African-Americans. He also fought for injustice. One of his major quotes was “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

In understanding that injustice goes against our true Christian core values we must show it by having the SBC Executive Committee and all its national agencies model unity and observe this day in its entirety. This will let everyone know that we’re standing and believing in solidarity of what Dr. King stood for, and showing it throughout the world.

We’ll begin to show it in our actions by just this alone. Can you imagine the change and impact that it will make in the world when the nation’s oldest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant organization in the United States takes such a stand?

The impact on the members we serve, the people we reach, and the message of which we teach will be considerable. We will be teaching that we have to look beyond color, beyond race, and beyond gender, to look at the quality, the content, and the character of an individual.

Now please understand that I am not trying to elevate Dr. King beyond Christ (or even equivalent to Christ), but what I am saying is that he is exemplary of what Christ asked us to do. Let the closing of the GBC Executive Committee building in observance of the holiday not be the end. Let this be merely the beginning of a new change and a new era within the convention showing that it is not just the color of the people, but it is the content and the character the people.

Let us press towards the mark to show that we as Southern Baptists are one people with one purpose and one cause – that being to spread the Gospel, be about the Great Commission, and disciple others; and to do it in such a way that everyone feels a part and no longer feel separate. No one should any longer feel left out or objected to, but feel embraced, loved, and comforted as a brother and sister in Christ.